Woman guilty of rape charge

A woman accused of committing a sexual attack on a younger woman in a moving car, then leaving her naked on the side of a San Diego freeway, was convicted Wednesday of rape with a foreign object.

Catherine McCoy, 49, faced several charges in connection with the Aug. 18, 2011, attack. In addition to rape, the jury found several allegations to be true, including kidnapping and personal use of a deadly and dangerous weapon.

McCoy was convicted in a previous trial of kidnapping, assault and making a criminal threat, but that jury was unable to reach a verdict on the rape charge. The panel deadlocked 11-1 in favor of finding her guilty. Prosecutors retried her on the sole remaining count.

After taking the verdicts Wednesday, San Diego Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Fraser set a sentencing hearing for March 22. McCoy now faces a maximum of 33 years to life in prison, said Deputy District Attorney George Modlin.

The victim, who was 21 at the time, was targeted because she had sex with McCoy’s boyfriend, according to previous testimony. The younger woman had been warned to stay away from him by McCoy and others.

The victim testified that she had been doing drugs at a City Heights home with some of the people who lived there. The morning of the attack, she took a brief trip across the border to Mexico to buy heroin and returned to the house later to collect some belonging she had left behind.

McCoy beckoned her into the garage, and moments later Christopher Carrera grabbed her by the hair and forced her into the back seat of a white Ford SUV.

McCoy got into the vehicle and proceeded to strike the woman with her fists and a flashlight while Carrera drove. After ordering the woman to remove her clothes, McCoy assaulted the woman with a golf club, the prosecutor said.

The attackers then left the woman on the side of state Route 125 in the Spring Valley area north of state Route 54.

McCoy’s lawyer, Charles Adair, said during the trial that McCoy admitted she had beaten the woman but did not rape her.

Carrera was convicted last year of felony charges related to the attack and a separate incident in Old Town involving a father and his teenage son. He was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison.